Hyderabad|HL Correspondent
There is increase noted in work-related stress among the professionals on metro cities.
A latest study done by Lybrate, an online doctor consultation platform, found that 49% of the people they interacted with, all in the age bracket of 35-45, suffered from stress and mentioned keywords such as hypertension and BP while seeking help from doctors. Across six cities Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata – they analysed 10,000 interactions related to stress since January this year.
Taking the brunt of work-related stress are professionals working in sales and marketing (24%), media and public relations (22%), IT/BPO sector (17%), travel and tourism (9%), advertising and events (8%) and 20% others.
“Stress has now emerged as a critical health problem that working professionals suffer from, apart from the usual ones like back, shoulder and neck pains, headache, eye problems and lifestyle-related issues, on which they pose a lot of queries on the Lybrate platform. This is a disturbing trend,” said Saurabh Arora, founder & CEO, Lybrate.
Some of the major worries the professionals mentioned in their interactions were meeting deadlines, missing targets and office politics. High stress levels were also forcing some to take to too much smoking and indulgence in alcohol.
In a city-wise break-up, Hyderabad professionals were placed in the fourth place, with 11% (1,100) of the stressed respondents working in the city.
However, working professionals from Mumbai were the worst hit, making up for 31% of the interactions, followed by Delhi (27%), Bengaluru (14%), Chennai (10%) and Kolkata (7%).
In fact, Lybrate’s findings were also corroborated by Kare4u.in, another online doctor consultation platform. “Though we do not have a city-wise break-up, we have found that 30% of working professionals from among the 75,000 online users using our platform complain about work stress-induced hypertension,” said Brahma Acharya, chief technology officer, Kare4U Healthcare Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Experts say there are some techniques to deal with modern-day stress. Cognitive behaviour therapy can help people adapt to stressful situation, said Dr K Srinivas, consultant neuro-psychiatrist, Maxcure Hospitals, Madhapur.
However, he warned that those who fail to take corrective measures may not just lose interest in their jobs but can also develop what is psychologically known as anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure from routine activities such as exercise, hobbies, music and social interactions.
